first part
Since the reform and opening up, Shantou has gone through an extraordinary development process.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Special Zone, the pioneers of the Special Zone, with the courage of "fighting their way out", struggled hard, braved the wind and sand, braved the heat and lived in tents, and successfully embarked on a realistic and innovative road of "development, construction, production and benefit". After the 1990s, Shantou seized the opportunity that the special economic zone expanded to the whole city and the market economy was active after Comrade Deng Xiaoping inspected the south and delivered an important speech, and made clear the market economic system and launched a major infrastructure construction campaign, which created important conditions for liberating and developing the productive forces. Driven by the rapid development of special economic zones, Shantou's economic strength has been significantly enhanced, and its regional GDP has increased from 654.38+97.8 million yuan to 654.38+03.57 million yuan in 2009. 1987, the city's per capita GDP ratio 1980 doubled, the second ratio 1992 doubled, the third ratio 1995 doubled ahead of schedule, and exceeded 20,000 yuan in 2009. In 2009, the general budget revenue of Shantou local finance reached 5.85 billion yuan, the annual retail sales of social consumer goods per capita was more than 65.438 billion yuan, and the per capita savings deposits of residents were nearly 20,000 yuan.
Looking back, Shantou has achieved a historic leap, and the face of Shantou has undergone earth-shaking changes. However, the history of reform and opening up is also a history of regional competition. Compared with the overall development of advanced regions and Guangdong Province, Shantou's achievements are not satisfactory, and its relatively backward position has not changed. Shantou's GDP increased from 2.39% in 1978 to 3.09% in 2009, but Shantou's population grew faster, accounting for 2.98% in the national population to 3.82% in 2009, that is, the per capita GDP was always lower than the national average. At present, the annual per capita income and per capita housing area of urban residents in Shantou also lag behind the national average, and the Engel coefficient of urban residents is 10 percentage point higher than the national average.
A common view is that Shantou's backwardness began with cases such as "807" and "8 15" in the early 20th century, while the previous 1993 to 1998 was considered as the "golden five years" with the best development momentum and the most prosperous economy in Shantou. In fact, even in the "golden five years" of the 1990s, Shantou's GDP increased by 186%, which was not much higher than the national average of 153.5% in the same period. However, the investment, consumption and export of the Troika, which drives Shantou's economic growth, are all behind the national average: in the "golden five years", Shantou's investment increased by 7 1.7%, and the national average reached140.5%; Shantou's exports increased by 79.8%, and the national average reached 100%. The utilization of foreign capital increased by 5 1.6%, and the national average reached 138.2%. This phenomenon is puzzling. Where does Shantou's GDP growth come from? A strange phenomenon is the growth of Shantou people's wealth. From 1993 to 1998, the savings deposits of Shantou urban residents surged from 5.59 billion to 28.42 billion, an increase of more than four times. The savings deposits of rural residents increased from 654.38+0.4 billion to 6.63 billion, an increase of 3.7 times, while the average savings deposits of national residents only increased by 2.6 times in the same period. The growth rate of Shantou residents' deposits is much higher than that of GDP, investment and export. In fact, these phenomena of "storing wealth in the people" all come from the underground economy that statistics can't reflect. From 30 years (1978 ~2008), the average annual GDP growth rate of Shantou is 12.4%, which is higher than the national average growth rate (9.8%) but lower than that of Guangdong Province (13.8%). The growth rates of GDP, GDP per capita, disposable income of urban households and secondary industry in Shantou are only slightly higher than the national average, while the growth rates of rural income, primary industry and tertiary industry still lag behind the national average, and the development momentum of Shantou has been unsatisfactory.
Medium length
In 1980s and early 1990s, Shantou seized the good opportunity of taking the lead in reform and opening up, accelerated its development and played the role of "the vanguard" in the reform and opening up. However, with the deepening of reform, the contradictions in development gradually emerged, and the development advantages such as geographical location, commercial culture, large number of overseas Chinese and special zone policies could not play their due roles, and the disadvantages such as resources, science and technology, management and transportation could not be effectively solved, resulting in Shantou's regional GDP.
A century-old commercial port: trade advantage failed to lay a solid industrial foundation
The three rivers flow in parallel, and all rivers flow into the sea. The unique business consciousness of Chaoshan people has created Shantou's trade advantage and its status as a "century-old commercial port". However, after the reform and opening up, the advantages and traditions of commerce and trade did not make Shantou rich and strong. Now people can only experience the "prosperity" of business from the shops all over the street and "closing the street to the city". Yiwu, a small town in central Zhejiang that once ordered a large number of goods from Chaoshan area, started from commerce in an unfavorable geographical position, regarded the market as the greatest wealth and a huge stage for entrepreneurship, and embarked on a unique development road of commerce-led, linkage development, entrepreneurship and enrichment, and innovation to strengthen the city. In terms of foreign trade, from 1979 to 2009, Shantou's total foreign trade export volume is not as good as the current annual export volume of Shenzhen 1/3. At present, Shantou's dependence on foreign trade is only over 50%, which simply does not reflect the high extroversion of coastal cities. The key to foreign trade advantage is that the relationship between trade and industry has not been formed. In 1980s and early 1990s, Shantou's trade developed rapidly, reaching its peak at 1998. At that time, Shantou had its own unique advantages in developing foreign trade, namely, policy advantages and port advantages. At that time, the state strictly controlled the import and export rights of enterprises, and trading companies in Shantou blossomed everywhere. Some people could get the "approval" through various methods. In addition, Shantou Port can be directly exported, so goods from all over the world flood into Shantou. Times have changed. When enterprises in other places have their own import and export rights, export restrictions are decreasing day by day, and "approval" is no longer important. Shantou, located in a corner of the province, has increasingly obvious traffic disadvantages, increasingly fierce competition in surrounding ports, and Shantou's foreign trade has declined. More importantly, foreign trade has not played a leading role in Shantou's local industrial development, and the industrial foundation supporting trade prosperity is not solid. The prosperity of trade has only made some people rich, but it has not left a solid industrial base. Large enterprises with export competitiveness and strong export products have led to the downturn of Shantou's foreign trade in recent ten years.
Tide merchants: Overseas Chinese resources have failed to become the driving force of economic development.
The advantage of hometown of overseas Chinese is an important reason for the establishment of Shantou Special Economic Zone. Shantou has more than 3 million overseas folks, including many famous businessmen. After the reform and opening up, overseas villagers are enthusiastic about donating money. Over the past 30 years, donations from overseas villagers have reached 5 billion, accounting for 1/8 of donations from overseas Chinese in Guangdong Province. Donations from overseas villagers have promoted the development of Shantou's infrastructure and public welfare undertakings to a certain extent. But investment is different from donation, and any investor should consider the issue of investment income, even villagers. At the beginning of the reform, Shantou's investment attraction was acceptable because of its policy advantages and strong competition from other cities. However, after the formation of the national opening pattern, the disadvantages of Shantou's investment environment gradually emerged. Resources are scarce here, investors have no cost advantage, and the "soft environment" with government services as the main content is not ideal, which makes investors, including overseas villagers, flinch. As of 2009, Shantou's actual foreign investment in 30 years is only about 7.8 billion US dollars, which is not as good as that of Suzhou and other cities in one year. In the past 30 years, Shantou has approved the establishment of about 5,800 foreign-invested enterprises. Up to now, only 1 1,000 enterprises still exist.
Prospering the city by Hong Kong: Coastal resources have not been transformed into shipping logistics advantages
Shantou has always been an important material distribution center and maritime gateway in eastern Guangdong, southwestern Fujian and southern Jiangxi. Rich in coastal resources, it has an important geographical location and good resource conditions for port construction. The natural deep-water coastline suitable for port construction is 28 kilometers, and more than 50 500,000-300,000-ton wharves can be built. After the reform and opening up, Shantou Port was once prosperous, with the port cargo throughput of 654.38+0.6 million tons in 1993 and 654.38+0.36 million tons in 1997, ranking fourth in the province. The container throughput is 366,000 TEUs, ranking third in the province. However, since then, the construction and management level of Shantou Port has been unable to meet the needs of the development of the situation. The investment in port capital construction for more than ten years is less than 40 billion yuan, which is less than 1/3 invested by Zhuhai and Xiamen ports. The development of large-scale deep-water container terminals is slow, the related facilities are not perfect, the port material distribution function is seriously weakened, and the status of Shantou Port is declining day by day, making it one of the ports with the least throughput in China. In 2009, the cargo throughput of Shantou Port exceeded 30 million tons, only about 3% of that of Guangdong Port. On the one hand, the port function is not perfect, which leads to the loss of export goods in Chaoshan area to Yantian Port and Xiamen Port, on the other hand, it also increases the production and operation costs of enterprises, and even causes local enterprises and Taiwan-funded and Hong Kong-funded enterprises investing in Shantou to move out.
More people and less land: natural resources need to accelerate the transformation of economic growth mode.
Shantou is a region with poor natural resources. There are only 19 kinds of mineral resources with certain reserves, mainly zircon, glass sand, tungsten and decorative granite with low value. Although Shantou is located by the sea, it is not rich in water resources. The average local water resources in the city for many years is 65.438+0.92 billion cubic meters, and the per capita possession is only 426 cubic meters, which is only equivalent to 65.438+0.7% of the province's per capita possession and 20% of the national average. Land resources are even scarcer, with a land area of 2,064 square kilometers and a population of more than 5 million, and the population density ranks first in the country. Of course, practice has proved that the amount of resources is not a decisive factor in determining the wealth of a region. Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Danish, Singaporean, Hongkong and Taiwan Province provinces are also extremely short of natural resources, but their economies are very developed. The key lies in whether we can give full play to the potential of technology, talents and systems and make up for the disadvantages of natural resources. However, in the past development, Shantou did not have an advanced model to achieve economic growth. On the contrary, like other places, it has taken an extensive development path with high land occupation and high capital investment. The role of science, technology and innovation in industrial development is not obvious. At present, the output value of high-tech industries only accounts for about 18% of the total industrial output value. Taking land use as an example, although the population density is much higher than other cities, Shantou's land benefit is low because of the scattered industrial spatial layout and unreasonable land use structure. 1993, the average GDP of Shantou was 7,206,200 yuan /km2, and that of Xiamen was 8,454,700 yuan /km2, almost the same between the two cities, but now, the average GDP of Shantou is less than half that of Xiamen.
City brand: the policy and political influence of the SAR is gradually weakening.
City brand is an important resource for local development and an intangible asset shared by all residents and enterprises in a city. The name of the SEZ makes Shantou a world-famous city, and it is the window and experimental field of China's reform, opening up and modernization. The real significance of the SAR lies not in the specific preferential policies such as tax reduction and exemption, but in the central government's concern for the SAR and the experimental right and legislative power given to the SAR. Of the more than 260 prefecture-level cities in China, only 49 cities (including SAR cities) have the legislative power of "larger cities" and only 4 SAR cities have the legislative power of SAR. In addition, the golden signboard in the SAR has a very great political effect. Starting from the overall situation and trend of reform and opening up, both the state and the province can give Shantou tilt and guidance in terms of policies, mechanisms, planning, projects and funds. Unfortunately, Shantou did not make good use of the golden signboard of the special zone envied by "ordinary cities", and did not have the right to experiment and legislation, and the intangible assets of the city continued to drain. In recent years, the country's regional policies have also been greatly adjusted, from the comprehensive reform experimental zone to the two-oriented society, from the circular economy experimental zone to the ecological economic zone, from the Beibu Gulf to Changjitu, from the Jiangsu coast to the Liaoning coast ... In this context, many cities began to pay more attention to political effects and the development of intangible assets, and "created" a series of "concepts", which aroused social concern. For example, Zhuhai was attracted by Hengqin Master Development Plan under the background of strong development momentum of the West Coast, Xiamen is striving to build a leading position in the West Coast, while Hainan is striving to build an "international tourist island" ... Shantou, also a special economic zone, seems to be gradually forgotten and marginalized, and the golden signboard of the special zone is much dimmer than that of 10 years ago.
As Li Feng, secretary of Shantou Municipal Committee, pointed out at the Ninth Plenary Session of the Ninth Municipal Committee, the main reason for Shantou's backward situation today is that our thoughts and concepts are backward. The deep-seated reason is that we have not kept pace with the development of the times in terms of ideas, development concepts, mental state, system and mechanism, work style and legal system construction, and even some comrades have forgotten whether Shantou is a special zone or not, which has led to the weakening of the cultural spirit of the era of emancipating the mind and reform and opening up, the weakening of the cultural characteristics of openness, tolerance and innovation, the degradation of the spirit of the special zone, the courage to keep pace with the times and reform and innovation, and the ideological decline.
Different regions have different geographical locations, economic bases, resource endowments and cultural traditions, and the ways and paths of development cannot be the same, but one thing is the same. The necessary conditions for accelerating development are to seize development opportunities, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses, fully tap local advantages, and constantly give play to their advantages. This should be the experience and enlightenment that Shantou Special Economic Zone has left us for 30 years.
The second part of a two-part program/book.
Development orientation must be scientific and accurate
China in the transitional period is very different from the mature market economy countries in the west. The government is the biggest resource controller and plays an important role in economic development. Local governments have enough ability to rely on their own resources to regulate the economy and maintain the correct direction of economic development. However, in the embryonic stage of market economy, Shantou did not create a good development environment and failed to standardize the direction and pace of economic development.
Shantou lacks a consistent economic development strategy, and its economic development focus and strategic continuity are not strong. Even the "modern port city" that has been emphasized has not been really implemented. Inaccurate orientation of development direction and development focus will only lead to missed opportunities, and unclear thinking will lead to "slow progress" everywhere. Shantou is timid when trying to break through the bottleneck of domain infrastructure; In the Pearl River Delta region, when the funds gathered by foreign trade have been transferred to industry, "career establishment" is still considered; When all localities have paid full attention to the development and utilization of land resources, they still indulge in enclosure and disorderly abuse of rural land; Still indifferent when attracting investment in the Yangtze River Delta region; It took many years for coastal cities to vigorously promote the listing of enterprises before they thought of trying to follow up; Under the background of the obvious trend of heavy chemical industry, the introduction of major projects is weak, and the "light industry advantage" is still paid attention to. ...
The same is true of industrial development, which fails to grasp and conform to the industrial development trend well, and the main direction of the industry hovers between light industry, heavy chemical industry (large projects), commerce and trade industry and modern service industry. Within the industry, it also failed to effectively select industries with faster growth rate and greater driving effect on the development of other industries, and determine the characteristics of industrial structure and its evolution trend. Nowadays, eight major industries, such as electronic information, textiles and clothing, craft toys, chemical plastics, food and medicine, machinery and equipment, printing and packaging, and audio-visual materials, are generally positioned as pillar industries. The understanding of the development pressure of Shantou's prominent contradiction between people and land and high proportion of rural population is not advanced enough to guide the spatial agglomeration of industry and population in advance.
The system and mechanism must be innovated and broken through.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Special Economic Zone, Shantou had many pioneering works in China: it actively explored and boldly experimented in attracting investment, system reform, government services and the establishment of "three supplements and one supplement" and foreign-funded enterprises. The new system and mechanism constructed by these innovative measures conform to the requirements of the development of productive forces and provide a strong impetus for the economic development of the special zone. Regrettably, after the initial establishment of the market economy system, when the driving force of reform and opening up gradually weakened and the resistance increased, Shantou stood still and all kinds of innovative behaviors decreased, especially in the innovation of institutional mechanisms, and did not provide the whole country with institutionalized and mature reform experience for other places to learn from. For example, the administrative management system is not only the same as that of the so-called backward areas in the mainland, but also the opening of Shantou's port investment, construction and operation market is very slow, the port construction and operation mode is relatively simple, and the financing channels are narrow.
"If you don't get new, you will retreat. If you don't get it, you won't get it." Weakening the advantages of system and mechanism will inevitably hinder the motive force of economic development. Today, when the advantages of SEZs are not obvious, and when Ma Benteng is developing, Shantou needs innovation to promote its development.
The level of government management must be constantly improved.
In the market economy, an important duty of the government is to create a good development environment. However, over the years, the development environment of Shantou has been unsatisfactory. Economic development needs a corresponding administrative management system. In terms of macro-development environment, Shantou's two zoning adjustments (199 1 dividing Chaoshan into three parts, and in 2003, Chenghai City was abolished and Chaoyang City was established, with Chenghai District, Chaoyang District and Chaonan District), which had a certain negative impact on Shantou's economic development. Chaoshan three divisions have separated the inherent economic ties in Chaoshan area, and made the administrative division to a higher level. Under the background of strengthening the power expansion and strengthening the county, Chenghai District, Chaoyang District and Chaonan District, which are actually at the county economic level, cannot enjoy all kinds of independent rights and preferential policies given to the county. In the case of increasing tax burden and weakening financial resources, they have to undertake more heavy public services such as urban construction and education, and the original regional brand effect of Chaoyang and Chenghai has also been weakened. In terms of government affairs environment, it is undeniable that successive governments have attached great importance to the government affairs environment, and campaigns such as rectifying the style of government organs, centralized service activities in the industry, democratic evaluation of the style of government organs, and building the efficiency of government organs have come and gone; We have set up complaint centers for organ efficiency and enterprise investment service centers, and promulgated the Provisions of Shantou Municipality on Improving Organ Style and Improving Administrative Efficiency and the Measures of Shantou Municipality on the Administration of Enterprise Complaints, and achieved gratifying results. However, the existence of institutional obstacles makes the rectification effect of pure sports not ideal, and the phenomena of low efficiency, excessive looseness, willfulness and fragmentation have greatly affected the investment. Undoubtedly, in the critical period of accelerating Shantou's development, improving institutional efficiency, strengthening execution construction, creating a good soft environment and implementing effective government management are important guarantees for accelerating development.
Speeding up the construction of happy Shantou under the guidance of the cultural spirit of the times
Shantou has outstanding people and profound Chaoshan culture. The positive factors in Chaoshan culture are the qualities required by market economy, such as courage to struggle, diligence and thrift, pioneering and innovating, but no culture is perfect. The independence, utilitarianism and traditional order of Chaoshan culture conflict with the requirements of market economy, which also affects the healthy development of Shantou economy. Some dregs in Chaoshan culture, to a certain extent, have affected Shantou's inclusive talent environment, interfered with the benign market order, hindered the industrial development with long investment cycle and slow effect, and the human relations all over the society have also distorted the government's behavior. The sublation of culture is a long process. Through effective guidance, efforts should be made to establish a sense of openness, order, rule of law, win-win cooperation and a good humanistic environment that is more in line with the market economy. Vigorously carry forward the cultural spirit of the times of emancipating the mind and reform and opening up, build Shantou into a famous cultural city of special zone and a gathering place of Chaoshan culture with important influence at home and abroad, form a modern cultural system with China style, special zone style and Shantou characteristics, and accelerate the construction of happy Shantou under the guidance of the cultural spirit of the times.
Standing on the historical node of the 30-year-old special economic zone, looking back on the tortuous and difficult development road, we are not only proud of our achievements, but also deeply thinking about our experiences and lessons. In recent years, the development situation of Shantou is gratifying, and the economic growth rate continues to be higher than the national average. In the first half of this year, the city's economy showed a steady and accelerated development trend, achieving a regional GDP of 55 billion yuan, an increase of1.1%. If we can fully mobilize the enthusiasm of folks at home and abroad, Qi Xin will make concerted efforts to strive for the first place, develop scientifically, polish the signboard of the special zone, improve the cohesion, attractiveness and core competitiveness of regional central cities, accelerate the transformation of economic development mode, accelerate the adjustment and optimization of economic structure, and realize the rise and revitalization of Shantou just around the corner.